


Almost Human

by ShanleenKinnJaskey



Series: Tell Me Again Why I Feel This Way [7]
Category: HetaOni (ish), Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Creatures & Monsters, Alternate Universe - Future, Alternate Universe - Post Apocalypse, Alternate Universe- Soulmates, Amnesia, Angst, Castles, Clocks, Death, F/M, Future Fic, M/M, Matchs, Murder, Soulmates, voices
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-07
Updated: 2014-12-09
Packaged: 2018-02-28 12:47:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2733089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShanleenKinnJaskey/pseuds/ShanleenKinnJaskey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It is the future and the countries are trapped inside of a castle, trying to save the last remnants of hope the world has left. The only catch? That hope has been gone for fifty years, and they have no memories to help them along.<br/>All each country has is the image of someone in their heads, someone who can help them defeat the darkness and the monsters. But they are getting killed off everyday, and the darkness is getting stronger- what are the odds that they will be able to find their partners before they all die?</p><p>Inspired by the song "Clocks" by Coldplay- the lyrics at the beginning of every chapter are from the song. The lines that especially gave me the idea for this piece were "Am I part of the cure? Or am I part of the disease?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Midnight

_"Confusion never stops_

_Closing walls and ticking clocks"_

 

 

**East Wing**

**Spain**

 

Night falls. I run through the ruins of a long-abandoned castle, searching. I don't know how or why I'm here, or even _what_ here is. In fact, I don't know much about anything- I can't remember anything save my first name and an image of what I'm searching for- a boy's face. He has auburn hair and angry amber eyes. He's trapped in my head, trying to tell me something, but I know that I'll be able to find him in this wretched place. Maybe then the ticking in my head will stop- the endless ticking clocks.

In case you're wondering, I'm not insane. At least I don't think I am, but I've learned that my thoughts (except for the one of the boy) are not to be trusted. This castle plays tricks on people's minds, turns them insane. I hope that doesn't happen to me before I find the object of my quest.

Suddenly I hear footsteps. Someone _else_ 's footsteps. That's not possible- I'm stuck in here in this endless maze by myself. There is no one to help me find my only hope. I look around, trying to find the source of the noise, but the lights flicker and then go out.

I crouch down. Lights out is a cue for the monsters, and by the cycle this time they should be the flying kind. I hear a scream somewhere in the far distance and cram my hands over my ears, trying to shut it out. It's just the castle playing with my mind, just as the sound of the footsteps was. I'm not going insane- I can't be. I need whoever this boy in mind is with a deep, innate hunger. He's the only thing that can help me stop the ever-pulling darkness.

 

**America**

 

I hear the sound of swallows and sobs up ahead. A person- I haven't seen one since my brother died days ago. It feels like eternity since he died from the monsters, the ever-swarming monsters.

I run towards the sound, bending forward to avoid the scuttling monsters flying above my head. I'm a hero- I can't let this person die at the hands of the monsters. It's all I know, protecting the people I meet from the castle, it's all I can remember.

The numbers tick through my head as I run, telling me that someone else has died. Someone I couldn't save. Instead of depressing me, as it did my brother, it gives me a spur of energy, a reason to keep moving. I  _will not_ let someone else die because I wasn't there to protect them.

"Hello?" I yell, "Who's there?"

"No, no. It's not real," I hear muttered up ahead.

"Where are you?" I shout. I can hear his sobs getting closer and closer- I'm nearly there. Maybe it's the man I see in my head, the one with the scraggly fair hair, hard green eyes, and large eyebrows.

 

**The Creator**

 

All of their quests are useless. They're all going to die eventually, making their Matches useless. I'm the only one who can see all of them and remember all their failures. I'm also the only UnMatch. There has never been a success in all the time I've been watching them- not a single person has ever found their match.

A red light goes off in my brain- Hong Kong has been killed. A smile pulls at the corners of my mouth. The experiment is going well; more countries are getting killed of each day.

I reach up to my ear and hit a button on my com set. "Iceland is to be terminated." A batch of monsters heads off to where the youngest Nordic is hiding. He was Matched with Hong Kong, and now that he is gone Iceland is now essentially useless. Without his Match, he has no reason to go on.

The whole point of this is to observe how different people try to find their Match. They'll come back, so it doesn't matter if they die, correct? Life is only precious because it ends, as they say, and these lives can just be brought back, so death is just another variable in an endless experiment. And plus, I need both deaths to reset a Match.

 

**Anonymous**

 

I finish reading this particular bunch of thoughts and sigh. He's gotten it all wrong. The Creator does have a Match, and I'm it. He can't see me, but I can see him.

I hear a scuttling noise and pull my gun out of my belt. I cock it and listen for the sound of the monster. There it is! I spin around and take a shot off to the right and up a little. A flash of light, the blast of noise that accompanies a gunshot, and the gun recoils. Warm and sticky guts splatter my face in the dark. I wipe them off with my sleeve (not that it'll help much) and put my gun back into its holster. I'm the only one with iron weapons, and with good reason- they're the only things that could kill of one of these creatures permanently, and the Creator would never allow it.

An orange light appears at the corner of my vision- another person is dead. That means the Creator will be killing off their Match.


	2. Scarlet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some have clocks, some have bells, and some have voices, but all have their Match...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In chronological order, the events in this chapter will take place before the events of Chapter 1. However, there is a reason for writing them out of of order, though...

_"Lights go out and I can't be saved_

_Tides that I try to swim against"_

 

**West Wing**

**Britain**

 

I am trapped in this endless maze, with naught but my feelings and thoughts. The darkness keeps creeping in, leaving me with nothing. They all die, all of my friends- there is nothing left.

_Stop moping, soldier! You've got work to do!_

_Tell me, voice in my head, who are_ _you?_

_You know that, soldier! Now get going- you've got work to do!_

The picture of that man appears in my head agin as I slough through the water to Hong Kong, my current partner and cousin in this fiasco.

He's _not dead yet!_

_He will be soon if you don't start paying attention when you're on guard duty, soldier!_

There- I can hear the sound of his voice up ahead. I start pushing harder, using the power from the rings to light up the way.

 _Oh_ _please, let me get there in time. I can't let another one die._

_Hurry up, soldier. There's no crying in baseball!_

I don't know what baseball is, but I catch the general gist of what my Voice is saying and begin to go as fast as I can through the water that fills the corridors to knee high, trying to avoid the swimming demons. The flying ones come next., then the scuttling ones, then the blood ones.

No one knows what the blood demons are, exactly. I've never seen them, and neither have Hong Kong, but the deep, abiding terror for them is seared into our heads.

Suddenly a scream pierces the air, and I begin to run through the dark, dangerous water towards the sound of Hong Kong's voice.

  
**Italy**

 

He's out there, somewhere, I know, and Hungary will help me get to him. She's searching for her person as well, a man she says has hair as dark as the corridors and eyes violet like the wings of an amethyst insect, the kind that always follows me around, the only monsters that don't kill us.

I can see the glowing green lines in my head that overlay the hallways, guiding me to the man in my head, and hopefully the one in Hungary's as well. I don't know much- I can't even fight, that's Hungary's skill- but I do know this: when we find them, and we will, we can stop running. We can stop fighting these monsters, and this seemingly endless life of terror can finally end.

But for now, I must hide behind Hungary, whose head can find pressure points and weak spots in monsters. Her hands and feet become demon-slayers when that part of her mind kicks in.

  


**The Netherlands**

  


A flicker in the night as a talon descends.

A slash of a talon through skin.

A flash of pain, and then...

Darkness. Sweet, never ending darkness.


End file.
